Slow Show
by shannanagin
Summary: “She needed someone that needed her right back. And you just needed a reason to grow up.” - Complete
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note**: So, I haven't written fanfiction in about a million years but I started watching Community and this little plot bunny got into my head and wouldn't leave. So there you go. I haven't even seen all the episodes so I'm still trying to get down character voices. I hope this works.

This is the first of a two parter. The second part is almost done so it should be up soon.

The title comes from the song of the same name by The National.

**Slow Show**

_I made a mistake in my life today_  
_everything I love gets lost in drawers_  
_I want to start over, I want to be winning_  
_way out of sync from the beginning _

It starts when Jeff finds out he's failing Spanish.

Honestly, he really doesn't care all that much (which is how he sort of got into this mess in the first place). But he makes the mistake of telling Britta and almost moments later Annie's running after him in the hallway, wailing, "JEEEEEFFFF!"

He tells her it's no big deal, he'll figure it out, maybe Chang will _actually_ die in a moped accident… She gives him a look, _the look_, and he's half afraid she's going to start crying again so he just turns around and walks away so he can go hide in Michelle's office.

Annie's eyes practically burn a hole in his head the entire way down the hallway.

He walks faster.

* * *

It's true that he's been treating this whole thing like a joke, as if it's just something he just has to survive for four years. But it's when he's in his girlfriend's office, staring at her shelf of trophies that this _word_ starts floating around in his head. This terrible, awful, no-good word.

_Loser._

Handsome hobo _loser_.

Crap.

Things have always come easy to Jeff and it destroys his soul a little bit to think that's he's actually going to have to put some effort into Greendale Community College. _God_.

It's pathetic. But he can't be that guy.

It's bad enough that he's got his old bathroom faucet sitting by his motel bed and every night he runs his fingers along it like it's some kind of freaking religious relic.

He can't be that guy. That washed-up, has-been_ loser_.

He's got his hand on the top of this weird, little, golden angel trophy and he must be more stressed than he thought because the head just pops off in his hand. He stares at it for a second, sighs and leaves to go find Annie.

* * *

He's being tutored by an eighteen-year-old high school drop-out with a sweater tied around her shoulders. It's no wonder that the sharp pain at the bridge of his nose has become a new constant in his life.

They're at the library late one night but he can't seem to get past tense verbs straight in his head and Annie's voice is buzzing until it's just a steady stream of Spanish gibberish floating around the room.

She's tired too though. He can tell because she's resting her head in the palm of her hand and she's kind of slouched over the desk, angled toward him, thumbing through her book. Normally she sits ramrod straight like she's trying win some kind of posture/beauty contest and it's almost unnerving to see her so… relaxed.

As she stifles a yawn, a piece of hair falls into her eyes (it doesn't escape his attention that she's been wearing it down more and more often) and it's almost involuntary when he reaches up and tucks the hair back behind her ear.

Her eyes slide toward him and he's mentally berating himself but she just keeps her big brown eyes focused on him. They watch each other for a moment, or longer, but it's oddly not weird or awkward.

Annie smiles almost wistfully and turns her head back toward the book with a little "hmmm."

He tries to think of something to say but she's right back to barking verb endings and the pain in his head returns.

* * *

Jeff assumes that Annie is one of those girls that throws themselves elaborate birthday parties, complete with gold-embossed invitations and a sheet of pink birthday cake and streamers and organized games. So he's surprised when they're waiting for the group one Friday afternoon and he asks her about her weekend plans.

She shrugs, "My parents are taking me out tomorrow for my birthday."

He looks up from his phone. She's biting her lip and staring intently at a page in her notes.

"Your birthday's tomorrow?"

"Today actually."

Jeff narrows his eyes. "Uhh. Happy Birthday? Why didn't you tell anyone?"

(Or wait, is this one of those things he's supposed to know already? Does everyone else know? Is he the only one who forgot?)

Another shrug, "It's no big deal." She's quiet but he's suddenly about 98% sure this has something to do with high school and a pill addiction and crossing guards leading her to her death.

He pulls Shirley aside after study group and fills her in and she instantly goes into Mom mode, telling everyone to cancel their plans and then calling Annie's favorite restaurant and making a reservation.

Jeff calls Michelle and tells her that he'll be late tonight but that he'll stop and pick up Chubby Hubby on the way to her place. He could invite her along but…

The entire restaurant sings "Happy Birthday" as Annie practically beams sunlight out of her _pores_ and Jeff's almost positive he sees tears in her eyes in the instant before she closes them to make a wish.

* * *

Jeff passes Spanish.

There's a moment when he's going to have a heart attack and Chang's going on about how he _failed_ and he's a _failure_ but he really means that he _failed_ at _failing_ or whatever and Jeff's got to really stop falling for Chang's idiot misdirects.

He catches up with Annie in the hallway and when he tells her it's almost like she's the one that had been in danger of repeating Spanish 102 the way her eyes light up and she starts jumping up and down.

Jeff rests his hands on her shoulder to stop her from completely spazzing.

"Relax there Tigger... And thank you."

She beams and they continue down the hall.

"It's perfect now. We'll all be in class together again next year. I was afraid…" An odd look crosses her face but she shakes it off, "But it doesn't matter. The study group will live on!"

He narrows his eyes, "I can't seem to bring myself to your level of enthusiasm."

Annie just shakes her head, "Oh Jeff, not even _I'm_ fooled by your blasé nonchalance. You'd miss us."

Jeff's doesn't bother correcting her.

* * *

Well dammit, Annie was sort of right.

It's the middle of the summer and he misses his Spanish Group of Misfit Toys. For one brief moment he looks at his phone and considers calling Britta or Abed or Troy or Shirley or Annie or even… Pierce.

In the end though he just shoves his phone between the couch cushions, watches a Real Housewives Marathon and only leaves the house later for his spray tan appointment.

* * *

_She_ drunk dials _him._

"Jeff! Guess what?!"

He presses the phone closer to his ear and looks toward the bathroom where Michelle is brushing her teeth.

"What?"

"I'm drunk!" She sounds epically cheerful about this fact and Jeff can't help but smile.

"Congratulations."

"I know!"

"You okay? You're good?"

He's trying so _so_ hard not to sound like a dad right now.

It turns out though that she's at Britta's where they're having a girl's night (he would pay good money to be a fly on the wall at that party) and she'll spend the night on the couch if she can't drive.

"Good."

"And guess what?"

He wonders if she's one of those forgetful drunks.

"Britta has cats!"

He lets out a loud guffaw and Annie giggles as Britta yells something obscene in the background.

"Check to see if there's a trashy romance novel under her mattress."

Annie's still giggling when he hangs up and he stares at the phone in his hand until Michelle walks out of the bathroom.

"That Brittles?"

"Britta." He pauses, "Yeah."

Michelle purses her lips so he continues, "She and Shirley are having a girls night. They called to ask me if my refrigerator was running."

Her eyebrow goes up, "Well, that's mature."

But that seems to be the end of it.

Jeff falls asleep with the sound of Annie's giggle tumbling around in his brain - he reminds himself to talk to Britta about supplying underage pill addicts with alcohol.

* * *

Three things of total inconsequence happen during the next semester:

I.

He and Michelle are out to dinner and he's telling her about Pierce's Botox injections.

(Britta was doing a generational study in her psychology class and had asked Pierce to participate as a member of the older generation. Pierce had, of course, been offended and had shown up the next day to school in skinny jeans and an Ed Hardy tee-shirt. Even more horrifying than that – he had been to a cosmetologist for Botox injections. He spent the rest of the week looking surprised at everything. Everyone else spent the week just trying not to stare. Britta had apologized profusely).

But Michelle's laughing too hard about it all and suddenly it's not as funny as it had been earlier and he's irritated for the rest of the night.

II.

He runs into Annie at the grocery store.

Or rather, he's about to turn into the cereal aisle when he sees her there, comparing the nutritional facts on two kinds of Raisin Bran. He almost doesn't recognize her because she's not wearing makeup and her hair is pulled back in a pony tail and she's wearing sweats like she just got out of the gym. She looks older than nineteen and it's at that moment when it hits him – her voice gets scary high pitched when she's excited and she has the tendency to react to things like a child but she' not _truly _naïve and she's been through more than any of the women he's ever dated. So...

He turns around and walks away. He's pretty sure there's a stale box of Cheerios in his pantry anyway

III.

His English teacher is one of those creative types that wants the class to write poems about their feelings towards literature. After the class reads Frankenstein she instructs them to write about coming to consciousness – "Think of the things that made you wake up to this world like a butterfly emerging from it's cocoon."

When Jeff sits down to write the paper the first things he thinks of are the faces of five people sitting around a table in the library.

He spends the next fifteen minutes trying to figure out why.

* * *

For her twentieth birthday they go bowling. It's dorky and ridiculous and Shirley makes them wear party hats but it's actually a lot of fun and Annie throws her arms around his neck when she bowls a strike.

He walks her to her car at the end of the night (It's a questionable neighborhood and Abed left in Troy's car and Brita left in Shirley's and Pierce is Pierce and it's just a matter of safety.)

Annie's doing that "happy beaming Annie" thing that she does and Jeff's smiling down at her and it's only natural really when she pops up on her toes and presses a kiss just to the corner of his mouth. That's all it is.

Except it's not.

His head turns, his lips sliding against hers and suddenly he's got her pressed up against the car, gasping into his mouth. She grips his arms and kisses him back _(kisses him back)_ and it's only when her leg starts to hitch up against his hip that they both stop.

They stay like that for a moment – pressed together, his hands at her waist – breathing, until he brushes another kiss to her jaw line and whispers in her ear, "Happy Birthday."

She's slides out of his arms and he's momentarily stricken but she's still doing that "happy beaming (blushing) Annie" thing so he knows everything is going to be okay.

He breaks up with Michelle two days later.

These two events are NOT related.

* * *

It's a sunny Thursday afternoon when Jeff walks in the library to find Annie in Troy's arms.

Troy has her pushed back against the table and Annie's hands are fisted in his collar and she's making the same soft noises he heard her make back on the night they went bowling.

They don't notice him so he silently turns right back around, almost running into Abed. Abed, who is looking like someone just ran over his puppy. Jeff throws his arm around his shoulders and says, "Come on buddy, let's go get some ice cream."

* * *

It doesn't really change anything now that Annie and Troy are dating. Except that Troy has a little bit more of a jaunt to his step and sometimes the two of them are found cuddling on the couch in the library, or in the cafeteria, our outside classrooms.

It's disgusting really.

But Annie is really happy.

So that's the upside.

* * *

Jeff and Britta have sex.

It's inevitable really.

He's bored one night and somehow he finds himself calling Britta, and she's answering and a half an hour later they're doing shots at a seedy bar with a bunch of twenty-one year old frat boys.

They get drunk enough that they can't drive and it only seems natural to give the cab driver one address and then to start making out in the backseat.

They're laughing and arguing and kissing as they stumble into Jeff's apartment and the last thing Jeff remembers is Britta saying, "This is probably a bad idea."

It probably is because the next morning everything just goes to hell.

He wakes up to Britta muttering and trying to jam her boot back onto her foot.

"Whatya doing?"

She starts and looks up, "Umm. I have to go."

Jeff leans back on his pillows and watches her with a smirk, "No breakfast in bed? No second round?"

Britta gives him a dry laugh but looks pained and Jeff knows immediately that this is not good.

"Britta."

She doesn't meet his eyes, just grabs her purse off the floor. "I've got to go." Pause. "Have a good summer Jeff."

And then she's gone.

Jeff smacks his head back into the headboard. "Shit."

* * *

Shirley calls to gossip.

Annie and Troy broke up.

Apparently, Troy broke up with her because he really didn't think it would be a huge deal and he's kind of into this girl that works at his gym and he has seriously underestimated Annie's attachment to this relationship.

Needless to say, Annie did not handle this well.

(Jeff has the sudden image of a boiled bunny rabbit that makes him shudder).

Britta and Shirley have taken her to dinner and consoled her but they're both worried and when Shirley tells him this there's a hint of "now it's your turn" in her voice.

It's not exactly in Jeff's wheelhouse to deal with emotional twenty-year-old girls (women) but he texts her that night and forty-five minutes later they're sitting in his car in the deserted school parking lot.

She's in the passenger seat with her head against the window.

"Do you ever feel like nothing you do is ever enough?"

He's surprised at how almost _angry_ he is at her suddenly.

But then she laughs, "But you're Jeff. You can't und-"

Jeff sighs and interrupts her, "Annie, you know what my problem is? I don't care about anything. You on the other hand, you care about _everything_. So…"

She picks her head up and shakes it, looking at him firmly. "Jeff that's not true. You care…"

He holds up his hand, "Nope. Nothing. I care about nothing."

She rolls her eyes, "You fought for Abed's honor. You made a fool of yourself for Pierce." She pauses, "You're here."

"Eh. Purely selfish." He looked over at her, "Emotional girls are easy."

The second the words are out of his mouth he regrets it – Annie's eyes are wide.

But then something breaks and she starts to giggle, her hand pressed to her mouth.

"Jeff..." Her voice dissolves into giggles and it takes her a second to get the words out. "I'm not going to have sex with you tonight." And then her shoulders are shaking and she's doubled over with laughter.

Jeff's suddenly insulted.

"Hey. Wow. Sex with me is not funny."

This only makes her laugh harder.

He watches her, smiling.

"Seriously, you're killing my self-esteem here."

When she finally calms down she ducks her head toward him "Aww. You know I love you Jeff."

He suddenly feels warm. (It's the car. The heater's on. The _car _is warm)

"And thank you."

Jeff nods. "Listen. For the record, I think it's pretty cool how much you care about everything. Don't change that just because… for anything."

She looks like she's going to cry again so he leans over and kisses her, his fingers brushing along the back of her neck. When he pulls away her eyes are closed and she smiles softly before leaning forward and capturing his lips again.

It's weird because it's not weird and it's just a comforting kiss between friends but it's not…

"I'm still not having sex with you," she whispers against him.

He laughs and leans back into his seat, turns the key in the engine.

"You know, I think I love you too Annie Edison."

She clapped her hands together, "Ha! You do care about something."

Yeah, well. Maybe.

* * *

So things are weird when they return for their third year.

Britta and Jeff are awkward around each other (she _still_ won't look him in the eye) and Annie and Troy really aren't speaking. Pierce keeps making inappropriate comments like, "What is this, a swingers club?" and Abed keeps quoting The Big Chill and asking them things like, "Did you guys ever notice the blatant sexual tension between Cameron and Sloane in Ferris Bueller's Day Off?"

None of them are even taking Spanish anymore anyway so it sort of just makes sense when they don't meet everyday, or ever.

There's a weird tug in his stomach though when Jeff sees Troy across the cafeteria and they just nod at each other and then eat at different tables. Or when Britta pulls in next to him one morning in the parking lot and they have a stilted, "Hey, what's up? Not much. That's cool" kind of conversation.

The only one Jeff has class with is Annie. World Civilizations. They pair up to work on an oral presentation about Aztec Rituals. (She's the only one he knows in the class and she'll probably do most of the work anyway so…)

They agree to meet in the library but when Jeff gets there Annie's standing in the doorway just looking at the empty table and everything just seems wrong.

With a hand at her elbow he guides her outside and they work at a table in the main quad. For the rest of the week they either meet at the cafeteria or near the snack stand or at the closest coffee shop off campus - avoiding that room in the library at all cost.

They do the presentation (They get an A and Jeff was right, Annie _did_ do most of the work) but they continue to meet and study together anyway.

* * *

The year passes quietly.

He and Annie don't have class together anymore and their schedules are completely different but they still meet for coffee every Tuesday morning (it's just ritual, he's used to it, it doesn't mean anything).

Sometimes she nags him about skipping classes (how does she even know?) and sometimes he teases her because he's seen her talking with her English professor in the cafeteria and hey if anyone knows about the sexual pull of Greendale professors it's him.

But mostly they just talk about things like Annie contemplating moving out of her parent's house or Jeff's uncertainty about whether or not he even wants to go to law school anymore or how they both secretly miss Senor Chang's teaching style.

* * *

For her twenty-first birthday Annie doesn't want a party because what does the occasion really mean to someone who's already been in and out of rehab? Plus things are weird without the whole group and she still hangs out with Shirley or Britta on occasion but it's not the same.

Jeff skips one of his morning classes so he can run to the store. When he sets a purple frosted cupcake with a single candle in front of her at lunch Annie looks like she's going to cry so he quickly lights the wick and says, "Don't expect me to sing."

She gives him an exasperated sigh but splits the cupcake with him anyway.

* * *

Piece collapses at home one night about two weeks later.

Jeff gets a call from one of Pierce's grandkids because they found his number in Pierce's phone and they know (from the way Pierce is always going on about his friends at school) that Jeff is his closest buddy.

(And that right there is the low point in Jeff's life)

He calls Annie and by the time he gets to the hospital she's there in the parking lot with Britta, Troy, Abed and Shirley.

It's suddenly awkward because he hasn't spoken to most of them in weeks and also, why would Pierce's entire _former_ Spanish Study Group show up at the hospital in the middle of the night? How do they explain that to anyone?

(None of them really understand it either.)

Jeff and Annie go in – she's clutching the arm of his sweater and her eyes are darting all over the place. The doctors are still doing tests though and Pierce's granddaughter will call him when they hear something.

The gang all go to the Denny's down the street where they order coffee and stew in half silence until Jeff's phone rings.

(Annie's clutching at his sweater again.)

Pierce is going to be okay. It was a minor case of Angina, he'll be in the hospital overnight and the doctor has put him on bed rest for the next few days.

Everyone breathes a sigh of relief and a damn breaks. They stay there talking and eating chocolate chip pancakes until four in the morning.

* * *

The next day he walks by the library at 5:00. (He was going that way anyway, whatever) and he's not sure what to call that feeling in his chest when he sees everyone there, in their place, arguing about something nonsensical (he'd say it's like coming home but, gross).

Abed says the whole "friends coming back together because of one character's crisis" plotline is cliché and he would have gone a different direction – but they all ignore him.

* * *

It's summer again and Jeff is bored and he's already seen every episode of Top Model so he calls Britta.

(This does _not_ end the way it did last summer)

Britta calls Shirley and on and on and within an hour everyone's in his living room vying for the Wii controllers and arguing over which was the better Summer Blockbuster (Iron Man 3 or the one with Will Smith and aliens). They all seem to have been thinking along the same lines though because Britta brought a bottle of Jack Daniels and Troy brought a case of beer and Shirley brought a bottle of wine and Pierce brought wine coolers (cause that's what the cool kids drink).

It only takes about two hours before they are all trashed.

(Well, except Annie who seems to get drunk enough on the idea of "friends.")

(And Pierce, who drank one wine cooler, threw up and passed out on the couch.)

Abed has kicked everyone's ass at Wii tennis… and golf and boxing and hockey but even he can't work up the hand eye coordination to start a new game anymore.

So obviously someone suggests Spin the Bottle.

Cause it's 1989 and they are all thirteen.

They sit in a circle and Annie's got a case of the giggles and her face is bright red (Jeff's suddenly not so sure she hasn't actually been stealing swigs of the Jack Daniels). Abed is mumbling about some show, it was on the WB? Maybe? The guy with the… thing? And he's talking so slow that it makes everything hazy.

Then Britta spins the bottle and it lands on Annie.

Shirley lets out a little "oh" and Troy's eyes get big and wide.

Jeff swings his head back and forth between the two women and he is really glad that Pierce is asleep right now because, well, _obviously._

For the briefest of moments it seems like the girls are going to back out of it but then Annie starts giggling again and Britta says, "What the hell?" leans forward on her knees and presses her lips to Annie's.

Jeff stares. And then his mouth drops open.

Not because of the kiss. Well it's the kiss, but it's mainly the fact that the kiss is STILL HAPPENING and Annie's hand has moved up into Britta's hair and one of them is making a soft little humming noise and ( Okay, seriously? Has Spin the Bottle changed? Isn't it supposed to be one quick kiss and done? This is about two minutes away from becoming soft core porn and What. The. Fuck?)

Britta finally pulls with a hazy little smile. She glances a little smirk toward Jeff and sits back. Annie's face is practically purple she's blushing so hard.

Troy shifts uncomfortably and oh, this was a bad _bad_ idea.

Jeff clears his throat, "Well, that was… " (So many words. So many words). "Anyone want to watch a movie?" (Did his voice _really_ just crack?)

They watch W_et Hot American Summer_ because no one else has seen it and that must be remedied immediately.

Everyone sprawls out across the floor passing the bottle of Jack back and forth and by the time Chris Meloni is having a conversation with a can of vegetables and talking about "fondling his sweaters" it somehow makes existentially perfect sense.

* * *

Jeff wakes up and his tongue feels swollen like he's slept with cotton in his mouth, there's a marching band in his head that reaches a crescendo as he shifts and basically, he just wants to die. And soon.

Except.

Annie's curled up next to him, her nose pressed into his side, hand thrown across his waist, resting just above his belt. (Well, that's...nice). He reaches down to run his hand over her hair and tries to pretend that they are alone.

Which is difficult. Because they are very much_ not _alone.

Abed's curled up on the other side of him, mirroring Annie's position except he's got Troy spooned up behind _him_, face nuzzled in his neck.

God, this has to be some kind of bizzaro world.

He cranes his head and sees Britta on the other side of Annie, sprawled out with her arm thrown over her head. She's snoring. Loudly.

Figures.

Pierce is still on the couch and the door to his bedroom is shut so he assumes that Shirley, being the only intelligent one amongst them, took his bed.

Abed shifts then, murmuring something in his sleep and he and Annie both simultaneously tighten their hold on him.

Jeff stares at the ceiling.

(Are you there God? It's me, Jeff. Jeff Winger? WTF man?)


	2. Chapter 2

_I want to hurry home to you  
put on a slow, dumb show for you  
and crack you up  
_

It starts when Annie decides she wants to be a lawyer.

Jeff is not surprised.

He_ is _a little irritated (_slightly_ thankful) when she insists on studying for the LSAT together. She's got flashcards and study guides and pie charts and power point presentations and study aids that Jeff has never even heard of but…maybe he's willing to recognize that he might need this (_handsome hobo loser, handsome hobo loser_).

She comes up with a color-coded study schedule and suddenly his Monday and Tuesdays and Wednesday nights have been taken over by practice tests and reasoning questions like, "_If Sue, Roger, Bart, Marlene and John are on a soccer team and the coach is trying to choose the starting lineup and Marlene has blonde hair and John has blue eyes, how many combinations of blah, blah, blah, blah…"_

At first they decide to just study in the library each night until they get kicked out. After a few weeks though Jeff starts to feel claustrophobic (around 9:30 his scalp starts to itch and he can't breath and the walls are closing in on him and it's like he's Pierce on an acid trip) and he will go insane if he spends one more second on the Greendale campus. He brings it up with Annie and her eyes start to get that wide, frantic look so it's purely self-defense when he's suddenly saying, "We can just study at my place."

(Oh, genius idea Jeff).

At first Annie seems almost flustered but then she shakes it off and says, "No, this is good. This is good." And Jeff's pretty sure she's already mapping out a plan to turn his living room into some kind of permanent LSAT study corner of doom.

The first night she's there it's awkward and they don't get much done. (She's been there before but never alone and studying shouldn't feel this intimate). It's like she spends the entire time trying to be as small as possible, trying not to touch anything, like she's afraid of leaving any part of herself behind in his place.

The second night she's there she shows up wearing jeans, a sweatshirt and a formidable face like he's never seen and she gets right down to business. She's got this easel corkboard with flashcards and crap pinned to it and all of Jeff's worst fears are coming true.

The third night she's there, she's just there. He orders pizza (no olives, Annie hates them), they study and she leaves.

A few weeks go by and it's Saturday afternoon and Jeff's falling asleep on the couch, his face buried in a pillow, when he suddenly catches the slightest whiff of the Pearberry lotion she wears.

Crap.

* * *

It's a Wednesday night and they're on their second hour of studying when Jeff slams his book shut.

"That's it. Kill me."

Annie looks up.

"No. Seriously. There's a butcher knife in the kitchen. Just, no stab wounds up here please." He waves his hand over his face." I want to go out looking pretty."

Annie raises her eyebrows then purses her lips in thought. "Maybe we have been studying a lot. A break could be nice."

"Good." Jeff leans back and flips on the TV. "I think Family Guy is on."

Annie sits perched on the edge of her seat, her hands in her lap like she's going to get up and bolt at any moment.

Jeff laughs at something on the screen and then glances over at her.

"Have you seen this one?"

She starts, then shakes her head. "I don't watch a lot of television."

Jeff tilts his head at her, "Seriously? Family Guy? You've never watched this?"

Another head shake.

He tosses the remote down and moves toward his movie collection. "Alright, now it's my turn to teach _you_ something."

Annie's face flushes but Jeff misses it as he searches for the first season DVD.

"You should organize them alphabetically, that way –"

Jeff spins around, "Hey, this isn't an episode of Clean Sweep. I have a system."

It takes him five minutes to find it.

When the first episode begins Annie stares in confusion at the screen for about fifteen minutes. Finally, "Isn't Stewie a baby? Why-?"

Jeff holds up his hand, "Don't think about it too hard."

She narrows her eyes but falls silent and pretty son she's laughing so hard there are tears in the corner of her eyes.

"This is ridiculous Jeff."

"Yeah."

She glances sideways at him, "I wouldn't think you would like a show like this."

He throws her a puzzled glance but doesn't say anything. There's a compliment in there. Somewhere. He'll take it for what it is.

* * *

It becomes a pattern. She comes over on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays and they study for a few hours and then work their way through the seasons of Family Guy. When they're done with that they move onto Friday Night Lights, then Arrested Development.

They sit on the couch side by side and when it's cold he throws a blanket over them and she rests her head against his shoulder.

One night his hand finds hers under the blanket (completely by accident) and he tries not to notice when her breathing changes as he starts drawing circles over her wrist with his thumb.

(The holding hands thing becomes a pattern too).

* * *

Jeff is eating lunch with Abed when he spies Britta across the cafeteria with some guy, their heads close together as he shows her something on his phone.

She laughs (it's more like a girly, high pitched non-Britta-like giggle) and Jeff narrows his eyes.

"Who's Mr. Technology?"

Abed looks over, "Oh, that's Dustin. He's in Britta's Sexual Politics class. They sit next to each other. Britt's fascinated by his seeming enlightened views on gender roles. He's also good looking in that classic, blonde movie star kind of way, so if you're picking up on a tension of the sexual variety over there, you would be correct… He's not a threat through. Conventional wisdom tells me that he'll probably end up being too aggressive in his progressive values and this will eventually turn Britta off." Abed pauses. "Or he's gay."

Jeff just stares.

Abed tilts his head. "Britta's your Dawson."

"Yeah. I have _no_ idea what that means."

"At first conception you and Britta were the ones set up to be the OTP. She's the Dawson to your Joey. But it didn't work." He frowns, "I'm still not completely sure why. Maybe because you're so alike. But in the wrong ways."

"Still lost. What the hell is an OTP?"

Abed ignores him, "I doesn't really matter why it doesn't work through. Because the audience would much rather see you with Pacey. _That's_ where there's real sexual chemistry. And where there's chemistry, there's story. Any good director knows this."

Jeff's mouth opens and shuts quickly. "And who's Pacey in this scenario?"

There's no answer though, just a knowing eyebrow raise. Abed gets up, taking his tray with him, "It should be about this time that someone tells you to choose between the blonde and the brunette. But we're already past that now. And it was never a matter of choosing anyway. Hmmm." He walks away.

"Hey! Abed!" Jeff half stands up in his seat, palms on the table, yelling after him, "What's an OTP? Abed!"

* * *

They take the LSAT on a Saturday in December.

It's the longest day of Jeff's life.

When it's over he drives Annie back to his apartment and they both immediately fall asleep (on separate couches).

* * *

The group stops meeting in the library everyday.

(This does not end the way it did last year).

Jeff and Annie are busy applying to law schools and Abed's working on his first full-length film and Britta's taking an extra load of courses so she can graduate with a double major in Psych and Anthropology. All their differing schedules just become too much to arrange around.

But, it doesn't matter.

They eat lunch together when possible and call each other on the weekends and when Troy gets the lead in a local production of Cats they're all there, Opening Night, in the front row.

* * *

Annie still comes over on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights (tradition) so they can perfect admissions essays and work their way through various television shows.

But there are Fridays (or Thursdays or Saturdays) when he's bored (bored is probably _not _the right word) so he texts her. She always responds right away and it turns into a forty-five minute conversation that ends with him telling her to just come over because he's pretty sure he has carpal tunnel in his thumbs.

When she gets there he's hungry and there's no food at his place so they go and grab a burger somewhere. And sometimes there's a movie playing that they've been wanting to see and there's got to be a word for what these things all mean but neither of them attempt to figure it out.

* * *

Annie organizes his DVD collection (and his CD's and his books). He complains loudly but secretly, it's kind of nice to be able to locate a movie without tearing apart his entertainment center.

Jeff makes her listen to bands like Metallica and Nirvana and she makes a face like someone's strangling a kitten but he was scrolling through her ipod the other day and she's downloaded some of his favorite songs.

* * *

She falls asleep one night against his shoulder. He slowly moves out from under her and she mutters something incomprehensible as she settles against a pillow and lets out a deep breath. Jeff thinks about waking her but she looks too comfortable so he just covers her with a blanket and brushes a kiss over her forehead.

It takes him three hours to go to sleep.

When he wakes up she's gone.

* * *

It's been over a year and a half since Jeff has dated anyone or even had a random meaningless hookup with some drunk girl with no last name.

That one time with Britta (the event that they still do not speak of) was the last time and… seriously? Absolutely no one can find out how long it's actually been.

Of course, if people _do_ thing he's having sex then they probably assume it with…

But these are things that Jeff does _not_ think about.

* * *

Annie falls asleep on the couch again.

Jeff wakes up the next morning and expects that she'll be gone again but when he walks into the kitchen she's standing in front of the fridge with her head titled in thought. Her ponytail has come partly lose in the night and there are wisps of hair hanging against her cheek. She's wearing his sweatshirt and it knocks the wind out of him for a moment.

She turns to him, sees his expression and then looks down at what's she's wearing.

"I got cold last night."

He nods, "S'okay."

When she leaves later she's still wearing the sweatshirt and he doesn't think to ask for it back.

* * *

"Jeff, have you ever had a best friend?"

He looks up, curious.

"I don't know. I've had some good friends. But we never made blood brother solidarity pacts or anything, if that's what you're asking."

She sighs, "I've always wanted a best friend."

"No. What _you_ want is the fantasy Baby-Sitter's Club version of friendship. It doesn't exist."

Annie glares at him. "I'm not twelve Jeff. I know what friendship is. I know it's not perfect." She looks down at her hands and when she speaks again her voice is softer. "I kind of like that it's not perfect."

He raises an eyebrow (there's a hint of a smile on his lips).

"Do you think…" She cuts herself off though and goes back to staring into space, her chin propped up on her hand.

Jeff's silent for a moment. Then, "You don't expect me to buy you one of those heart necklaces where one side says "Best" and the other says "Friend" do you?"

The smile on her face is _glorious._

_

* * *

_

Sometimes there's kissing.

The first time it happens – she's leaving his apartment and it's late so he doesn't even think twice about leaning down and pressing a quick kiss to her lips. Like they do this everyday.

Annie ducks her head and smiles and when she's gone Jeff tries to pretend that the odd feeling in his stomach is from the Chinese they had for dinner.

The second time – They had been watching a movie (Citizen Kane. There had been some kind of discussion about great movies everyone _has_ to see and it was one that neither of them _had_ seen but they both felt they _should_ see at some point so Jeff added it to his Blockbuster queue and then forgot about it and it once it arrived it sat unopened for a month and a half until Annie found it and there was nothing else to watch, so) and they had both fallen soundly asleep halfway through.

Jeff wakes up sometime around midnight to the sound of the DVD menu on loop, his contacts burning his eyes and Annie's feet in his face.

He sits up slowly and rubs his eye with the heel of his hand.

Annie's curled up on the other side of the couch, her hand tucked under her chin. Jeff tries to extract himself without waking her but at the first movement she starts, sits straight up and stares at him with wide blinking eyes.

He has to laugh. Her hair is sticking up on ends and the seam from one of his pillows has left an indentation down the side of her face. He reaches out to smooth down her hair and she just continues staring at him.

Jeff thinks she's maybe still sleeping but then she just _launches_ herself at him. Like a fucking cat. Suddenly he's being pressed against the arm of the couch and her tongue is trailing down his throat and really? He can't complain.

She pulls away suddenly and looks up at him with baleful eyes, "I'm sorry."

He responds by kissing her back, slow and deep and it's different than any of the other times. Jeff keeps the pace soft and Annie's sighing, melting into him and he's consumed with wanting to gather her up and keep her pressed as close to him as possible.

In his entire life Jeff has never kissed anyone for the sake of kissing. It's always with purpose, it always leads somewhere, there's always a higher goal in mind.

But it's suddenly hours later and they're still just curled around each other on the couch, his hand tangled in her hair (he's found this spot right behind her ear that makes her moan and she's learned that he likes having his hair tugged) and they're not really talking, just touching and tugging and pressing and kissing.

It's new and not just because it's with _Annie_.

(Somewhere tucked into the back of his mind there's this little nugget of thought that it _couldn't_ be with anyone other than _her_ but Jeff Winger does not do _cheese_ like that).

* * *

It's not like they're dating or anything.

But sometimes…

They're sitting in the cafeteria and Annie's got her nose buried in some book. Jeff's sprawled out next to her with his arm slung over the back of her chair. He's half listening to a forty-five minute joke about a donkey and a priest that Pierce is trying to tell, half contemplating going for another fudge brownie. He settles for snaking his arm out to steal one of Annie's fries.

"Stop." She doesn't even look up.

He smirks, then goes for another one but she's suddenly got the reflexes of a ninja and she's reached back to pinch at the skin at his bicep.

"Ow. This abuse is completely uncalled for."

She just makes a "raspberry" noise in response.

He tugs lightly at the end of her hair.

Annie's eyes are still studiously trained on her book and he's willing to bet that she's still somehow managed to read half a page during this exchange – but her lips curve into a smile and she's rolling her eyes and tapping her tray toward him with her free hand.

"Milady."

"Uh-huh."

Jeff's absentmindedly twirling strands of her hair around his finger and neither of them notice the knowing smiles Shirley and Britta are exchanging across the table.

* * *

He's brushing his teeth one morning when he notices her yellow toothbrush sitting in the cup at the edge of the sink. He stares at it for a moment, thinking about the pile of _her _books that are on his kitchen counter, the pink sneakers sitting by his front door, the change of clothes that she always keeps stuffed in her backpack.

The bottom drawer of his dresser is full of odd and ends and junk anyway so it's not a huge deal when he cleans it out and throws everything useless away.

When he shows it to her later that night if feels like progression.

There's a smile in her voice as she murmurs an "okay."

* * *

They're at Olive Garden one night and Jeff has consumed about thirteen too many bread sticks when suddenly Annie gasps.

Her parents have just walked in the door.

Jeff can practically feel his face go white and it's for good reason because this ends up being basically the worst experience of his entire life. (Meeting a girl's parents should not be this hard. How _old_ is he? How old is _she_? That's right. _Oh God_).

Her dad gives him the "you're a perverted old man messing with my baby girl and I WILL destroy you" look and her mom just makes disapproving "hmm" noises under her breath the entire time. When it's over he feels exhausted.

Annie's face is red and if this were a cartoon there would be steam shooting out of her ears. Jeff just sits back in his chair and lets out a deep breath.

"Well that was a lot of fun. What do you say we follow it up by going and driving screws into our thumbs?"

"Oh!" She's beginning to look like a child in the throes of a tantrum - fists clenched, body shaking. "They are so unbelievable."

"Annie." He reaches over and rests his hand on her knee and amazingly? The miraculous happens. She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath and exhales slowly. When she looks at him again there's a tentative smile on her face.

"Okay." She grabs a breadstick and chews thoughtfully. "You know. My parents don't think I'll make it through law school. I'm pretty sure they're assuming that it will lead to another trip to the rehab clinic.

He shrugs. "They're wrong."

"I know."

* * *

The movie was over about forty-five minutes ago and the DVD menu is playing on loop again and it's obnoxious but Jeff doesn't really hear it because Annie's mouth is at his collarbone and her shirt disappeared somewhere about an hour ago so his hands are free to smooth over the ridiculously soft skin at her back. His fingers drift down, dipping below the waistband of her jeans and she moans as he presses against her.

_God_, he can feel beads of sweat on his forehead and he's fully clothed but he's never been so worked up before, everything around him seems to be on hyper drive and he Can't. Stop. Touching. Her.

She sits up then and pulls him with her. The new position gives him perfect access to press a kiss just above the valley of her breasts. She sighs and her head falls back and then her hands are smoothing up the plains of his stomach and she's trying to tug his shirt off.

They both laugh when he gets stuck and is momentarily tangled and blinded with his hands above his head but she yanks and the shirt goes flying and it's probably ruined but who even cares because she's wrapping her arms around him, pulling their bodes flush together. Jeff's hands are at her waist again, pressing her down for more friction and he almost sees white as she chokes out something that sounds like "please."

It's almost too much.

"Jeff."

God. She's going to stop this now. It's going to stop and…

"Jeff, your couch is really small."

He wants to cry.

She looks into his eyes and her hair is wild and there's a flush to her cheeks, her lips are red and swollen, eyes heavy-lidded. And then she's kissing his forehead, eyelids, nose and back down to his jaw line.

Jeff swings his legs over the couch and stands, Annie still wrapped around him. He's too old for this but her legs hitch up over his hips and he almost can't get to the bedroom fast enough.

She giggles when he drops her to the bed but stops abruptly when he moves over her, holds himself over her and dips his head to kiss her, almost too lightly, lips just ghosting over hers.

Then she whimpers and her arms are wrapping around his neck as they crash together.

* * *

Afterwards, she's trembling (maybe he is too) and he pulls her up against him, tucking her head under his chin.

Moonlight is streaming through the window and he finds himself mesmerized by the way the light dances over the floor as the blinds move in the breeze.

"God, _Annie._"

She responds with a choking laugh that sounds a little bit like crying and then shifts slightly so she can look up at him. She traces her finger over his eyebrow and then lets her eyes flutter shut.

Jeff strokes her hair and everything is hazy and quiet and – skin against skin, legs tangled together – perfect.

* * *

They only have the _talk_ once. _The _talk.

He's teaching her how to make his famous grilled cheese sandwich (seriously, this girl cannot cook to save her life) and she's buttering bread while he cuts slices of cheddar cheese.

When she's done she looks at her work. "Is this okay?"

_God, it's buttered bread, she's worried about fucking buttered bread._

And suddenly it just slips out.

"Annie, I'm thirty-seven."

Her lips part and she just stares at him for a second. A look of confusion crosses her face.

"I know?"

"Thirty-seven." He says it again, slowly, to make sure she really understands. He needs her to understand.

But she just sighs and cocks her head to the side. "Jeff."

He searches her eyes and then throws up his hands.

"You're twenty-one."

She nods. "Yes, but I'll be twenty-two next month!" Like it's an accomplishment.

Maybe it is for her.

"Your parents hate me."

"A little bit."

Jeff just shakes his head, reaches for the Parmesan cheese. "Okay, sprinkle this on each slice."

Her fingers brush against his. "Age isn't just a number Jeff."

"Thanks Bartlett's Quotations."

But he smiles anyway.

* * *

Jeff and Annie have been _Jeff and Annie_ for so long that's it's practically a non event when they start driving to school together and Shirley turns the corner of the hallway one day to see them kissing outside Annie's classroom.

* * *

For her twenty-second birthday Jeff throws her a party.

They invite everyone.

Britta brings this guys she's seeing, Blaine. He's nice enough but he"s kind of a doofus and he reminds everyone of Kevin Kline in _A_ _Fish Called Wanda_. And maybe Britta has a type.

Jeff might feel a little insulted by this.

Troy walks in with swagger and some girl from his art class on his arm. She's drop dead gorgeous and everyone assumes she's got the IQ level of a Barbie doll but when she opens her mouth, actual intelligent words tumble out and Troy just beams.

Abed follows everyone around with his camera like it's an episode of The Real World.

Annie glides around like a hostess, like she owns the place and …well, she might as well. She sleeps over almost every night and she's taken over half the closet and rearranged the living room (three times).

Jeff's out on the balcony whistling and grilling hamburgers when Britta strolls out with a beer in her hand. She leans against the railing and tosses him a bemused look.

"You and Annie."

"Don't start Squirrel."

"Hey, it's just an observation." She pauses. "It makes sense."

He looks at her questioningly because he sort of just assumes that everyone thinks they are both insane.

"She needed someone that needed her right back. And you just needed a reason to grow up."

Jeff stares at her, "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard."

Britta lifts her beer, "Stupid but true."

He changes the subject. "So what about you and whatshisface in there. Bland was it?"

"Blaine."

He snorts, "What kind of name is Blaine? Who does that to a child?" He stops and pretends to think, "Huh. Blaine and Britta. You could have a whole litter of children with increasingly ridiculous names. Brewery. Baldy. Balcony." He starts to laugh at his own joke.

Britta looks disgusted.

"Ballad, Bounty."

"Whatever Woody Allen," she calls behind her shoulder as she walks back inside.

Jeff just continues to laugh.

* * *

Annie gets into almost every law school she applies to.

Jeff does not.

He's not completely surprised. Despite the tutoring efforts of Annie his grades were still crap and his LSAT score was mediocre, at best.

But Annie's been pouring over brochures from Columbia (the irony does not escape him) and talking about moving to New York and the whole thing just makes him want to crawl back into bed and hide his head under a pillow.

This is exactly what he does and exactly where Annie finds him two hours later.

"Jeff, what are you doing?"

"Hrmph."

"Please don't tell me you consumed this entire can of whipped cream."

"Fftllep."

The bed shifts and her hands are sliding over his back, "Jeff, look at me."

He ignores her until she hops off the bed and stamps her foot on the floor.

"Listen buddy. I understand that you're upset right now but if you think I'm just going to let you wallow around here in your own filth, consuming copious amounts of sugary dairy products then you've got another thing coming."

Under the pillow Jeff can't help but make a face. He finally turns around and looks at her.

"Filth?"

She shrugs, "I appealed to the absurd obsession you have with your own physical beauty. Sue me."

"Wait a minute – "

"Jeff. Listen to me." She cuts him off and sits back down next to him. "Life isn't over. You have options." It's then that he notices the manila folder in her hands. She tosses it down onto his chest.

He opens it up to find a pile of glossy brochures to the likes of NYU, Columbia and Cornell.

"Graduate schools. You can go through a few more years of school and then take the LSAT again. Get a Masters in political science. Maybe teach or go into research or-"

"Annie, these are all in New York."

"Well." She's playing nervously with the corner of his comforter.

Jeff tosses the brochures aside and pulls her down on top of him, wrapping his arms around her securely. She buries her face in his shirt and murmurs, "I don't want to go to New York alone."

He closes his eyes and smiles, trailing his fingers through her hair. They are quiet for a long moment.

(Dammit. He just wants to wallow in his own failures. Why does she have to come along and make it seem so easy?)

"So. You wouldn't mind some old man following you all the way to the big city?"

Her head pops up and she grimaces, "Jeff, that sounds creepy."

Jeff raises an eyebrow but then she gasps, "You can be my Felicity!"

"Okay. That's it. You are spending way too much time with Abed."

She giggles and starts talking about Ben and Noel and time travel (what the _fuck_?) and he has no choice but to flip her around and kiss her until she stops.

* * *

It seems sort of backwards and twisted, this whole thing. Like he fell in love with her and then got to know her and then she had practically moved in before there was even any sex and now they're just together and it works.

* * *

After graduation Abed insists that everyone meet at the stairs in front of the library. He mentions something about symmetry and framing and no one has any clue what he's talking about but they do it anyway.

They sit and laugh for awhile about the complete inappropriateness of Dean Pelton's speech _("Your future is out there, dangling in front of you and you just have to wrap your hand around it with a firm grip until it comes…")_ and how creepy the Human Being looked in a cap and gown. After awhile though they all fall quiet.

Jeff leans his elbows back on the step behind him, Annie next to him gazing wondrously at the rolled up paper in her hands.

"You know that's not the actual diploma right? Just a piece of paper that says "Congratulations?"

"Let me enjoy my moment."

He smiles, and looks back at everyone. "Guys, I just want to say… thanks. You ended up making this place almost bearable. I actually don't think I could have survived it without you."

"Oh, that's nice."

"And just think. None of this would have happened if you hadn't wanted to bang Britta."

Annie and Britta both throw Pierce disgusted looks.

"What?" Pierce looks genuinely confused. "It all worked out. Jeff ended up with Annie and Britta's still a lesbian."

"Peirce! I'm not-" Britta shakes her head. "Never mind."

Jeff looks over at Abed. "So, how does it all end?"

Abed frowns, "Well, if this were a television show, Annie would be going to the conveniently placed and previously unheard of Greendale Law School and the rest of us would barely work and spend most of our time at the bar slash dance club that you open. But… it's not a TV show. So, I don't know."

"Fair enough."

Troy jumps up off the steps, "I'm hungry. Who wants pancakes?"

"Oh, that sounds good."

Shirley and Britta follow him and Jeff stands, offering his hand to Annie. She brushes herself off and then reaches out to Pierce, "I want you to promise me you'll take care of yourself Pierce."

He scoffs, "What? You expect me to die sometime soon? You go away for a couple years and only come back for some big reunion at my funeral? Now I'm insulted."

Jeff laughs and throws his arm around Annie's shoulder. They follow the others.

Abed sits for a moment, alone on the steps, head tilted in thought.

"Abed! Come on!"

He smiles to himself, murmurs, "The End" and then jumps up to run after his friends.


End file.
